It has a soft, luminous sheen with semi-opaque color. This shade had a lot of slip when applied, so the color moves around on the lip, which gave me slightly uneven color application towards the center of the mouth. I experienced very faint feathering after the fourth hour of wear–it lasted five and a half hours in total.

It doesn’t apply evenly, unfortunately, and part of that is owed to how slippery the formula is; the sparkle and shimmer tends to overlap and clump together, which keeps it from being a more even dusting of color. Of course, this formula is supposed to be highly pigmented, and it’s definitely not that. Applied very sheerly and blended with a lip brush or finger tip, this might work under a more pigmented gloss (I’m thinking red). It wore three hours on me and was actually a bit drying.

Dolce & Gabbana’s Classic Cream lipsticks are supposed to have “bold color” and feel hydrating when worn. One thing worth noting is that the formula is heavily scented with rose and does have a slight rosy taste at times–I’m not particular sensitive to scented lip products, but it is one of the stronger fragranced lipsticks I’ve encountered (which you may love or may not). Both of these shades felt like they had more slip than other shades from the formula, though.

Buxom Serial Kisser Set ($32.00 for 5 x 0.04 oz.) includes five shades of miniature-sized Full-Bodied Lipsticks. Two of the five shades are part of the permanent range, while three are limited to this set (as far as I know). A full-sized lipstick contains 0.13 oz. of product and retails for $21. The set is pretty much a value of $32 in lipstick, but the benefit is you get five shades instead of one and a half–so for less the price of two individual shades, you get five to play with. I like the idea of variety, as most of us don’t know what it’s like to finish a lipstick (at least not very often!). After trying these, one thing I didn’t love was how skinny the actual lipstick was, as it made application not as easy as when it’s using the full-sized bullet. They’re just really long and skinny, and I was worried they would break, but none of them did after using them, so at least that went okay! The formula is consistent with the permanent range.

Menace is described as a “rich wine.” It’s a rich, brightened berry-red with cool undertones and very fine ruby red shimmer. It had mostly opaque color with a barely-there translucency that kept it looking more lightweight in comparison to other shades in this formula. The finish was still glossy and luminous, though. It wore well for six hours, and it left behind a berry-ish stain. When I wore it, the formula of Menace was somewhat hydrating. Guerlain Gigolo is a bit darker. Guerlain Orgueil is similar. Giorgio Armani #408 is more muted. Burberry Bright Plum is similar. See comparison swatches.

Mistress is a slightly warm-toned, medium pink with a luminous sheen. It had rich, opaque color payoff and wore well for just over four hours. This shade was nicely hydrating and applied evenly and smoothly. MAC Hoop (DC, $15.00) is more matte. MAC Viva Glam Nicki (LE, $15.00) is brighter. See comparison swatches.

The Lovemarc Lip Gel formula is supposed to be “color-saturated, long-wearing, gellified lipstick with a sleek shine finish.” Have We Met? is mostly opaque, but there’s a little translucency as you can see my lip freckle peeking through. I would expect if you had naturally redder lips, you’d also see that come through and darkening and reddening this color. The consistency is very emollient, definitely gel-like, and the color applies easily without tugging or dragging. This shade wears four hours on me, which is average for lipstick in general (on me) but short of what long-wearing formulas usually is (more like six hours). It doesn’t come as a big surprise, given the high amount of slip this shade had. It was very comfortable to wear, and it was nicely hydrating from start to finish. Marc Jacobs’ lipsticks are vanilla-scented but have no taste.

The color payoff was sheer; no matter how many layers I attempted to apply, whether I used a lip brush or not, it was always sheer, streaky, and all in all, horrible. If Dolce & Gabbana are going to take the time to put out a green-hued lipstick and then charge $36 for it, the least they could do was pack it with pigment, least of all by making it apply smoothly (I would settle for mostly even at this point). The shimmer and color tended to bunch up, too, so it was streaky, crumbly, and patchy. The only nice thing I can say about this shade was that it was hydrating for the three hours it lasted for–it did stain my lips a sort of green-ish-gray. This is a product that made me see red as soon as I applied it, and I was just in total disbelief as to why they would let this go into production. The formula is rose-scented with a slight floral taste at times.

Though both of these lipsticks are part of the Classic Cream range, and these specific shades are touted as “bold, rich color inspired by the stones they are named after” and neither of these fit the bill. Ametista is semi-sheer, and as it is closer to the natural lip color, the sheerness doesn’t look as patchy or streaky, but it’s not a lipstick that deposits color very evenly. It wears two and a half hours on me, though it was moisturizing while I wore it.